bramstayer
Wow Jeff Bridges must get asked about this character as much as the Dude. I for one went and read the book AFTER i saw the film. 2006 I THINK. & the book is a work of genius. So how brave to make a film from such source material as this. Not easy. And its not an easy watch. I saw it at 2 am at my parents house after a day of swimming, so it REALLY transported me out of the holiday like home I was enjoying so luxuriously ! I heard this film caused people to walk out because the brilliant actress who carries the whole movie was prepping the works for her daddy. Well he WAS an errant junkie rockstar has been, lives with his stripper junkie wife & yes the young daughter is supposed to be 12 or something but come on! I am sooooo glad that i DIDN'T read the book first and didnt know a thing about this film when i fell down the rabbit hole.made it SO much better and i never knew where it would go or how it may make me feel, that's great filmmaking. Being unpredictable is hard for most filmmakers. I dont love every film Gilliam made but hes a solid 9 out of 10 hahaha so this a test. If you can find the beauty and sweetness in this creepy sunny yet crazy world of Jeliza-Rose her crazy new neighbours etc., you are in my tribe. She reminded me of me and so did her dolls! See it. Then see it with SOMEONE else...you can thank me in firefly sparks...Book was wondrous too! You wull never forget this one. Thats for sure.
audacity10
After spending too long trying to decide which movie to watch last night, I chose a duff called Tideland. Here we have a movie that surrounds and involves a young girl in a world of hard drugs, abusive parents, sex, death, violence and strong language - all things we should be protecting children of her age from. The director, Gilliam, clearly thought he could get away with this so long as it's acted out with playful Disney-esque music dancing away in the background and with the odd hint at humour. Humour which barely raised the corner of my mouth into a smile. No, this is deliberate and nihilistic and I can only imagine perverts or communists enjoying watching this degrading junk. You can of course try and search for an inner message if you want - but I doubt you'll make it to the end of the movie, considering how painfully boring it is. It drags on for 2 hours, I only regret that I dedicated a whole 1 hr 20 mins to this turd.
danielphillips97-251-836566
'Tideland' was the reverse of 'The Brothers Grimm', Gilliam at his purest, least restricted by studio interference. There are people who found this film too dark, strange, and twisted; the critic's consensus even calls it unwatchable. It's been called impenetrable, but then there are people who've merely been disappointed, found it dull and uneventful. However, Terry Gilliam himself, and a few others, consider this to be one of his best films, as well as Mark Kermode claiming it was a completely different experience the second time round.It is his most provocative, uncompromising, and idiosyncratic film to date, one that's challenging and uncomfortable for many adults, yet it's remarkable in its portrayal of innocence, resilience, and imagination, triumphing over the harsh, ugly truths of life, just like in 'Brazil', where imagination is a freedom in which we can escape, and make what we want to of our surroundings. Ultimately, it asks us to let go of our rigid, conditioned sense of morality, and see the world with the innocence and wonder of a child.It also shows the flip-side of imagination, how it can exaggerate events, making them more threatening than they really are. It's telling that when Jeliza-Rose goes downstairs and sees Dickens in a blonde sitting in a rocking chair, it creates this mysterious, creepy unease, but when she sees it's him, this feeling dissipates. Dickens' mother Dell, initially appears to be a wicked witch, but in the end just turns out to be a concerned, protective mother. The final shot of the film even reaches a poetic beauty, which lets us know that Jeliza-Rose has come through the whole experience unharmed. Perhaps part of the success of this film is due to restraint, Gilliam not going wild with flights of fancy, or lavish set pieces, but keeping it stripped back to its bare essentials, and showing how strange life can be on its own, by focusing on the oddball characters, unpleasant situations, and the resilient spirit of the protagonist.Terry Gilliam believes that the critical dismay of 'Tideland' is due to the fact that they were too afraid to confront the subject matter, and there's not a lot of evidence in their reviews to refute that. There are films which were shocking and controversial at the time, such as 'Peeping Tom' (1960), and 'Freaks' (1932), which have since gone on to develop classic status. I imagine that someday, 'Tideland' will be looked upon the same way we see those films today, a great film that was misunderstood at the time.
Tweetienator
The main trouble with this movie is simple - it is boring and not very captivating. Like Jean-Pierre Jeunets Delicatessen and the like the movie depicts a world filled with weird characters but Tideland does it in a bad way - I didn't feel any empathy for them - strangeness for the sake of strangeness... How its well done to portray a little girl fleeing into her personal fantasy-world to cope with the harsh circumstances of her world is shown in Guillermo del Toros Pans Labyrinth superb. If you compare those two pieces you will see immediately the difference - which movie is a masterpiece and which one a fail or at best a mediocre attempt and to compare this story with Alice in Wonderland counts imo almost as blasphemy ;) Ofc Gillaims is no newbie - the basics (cinematography, settings etc.) are well done and also the actors did there job well - and if the young Jodelle Ferland wouldn't have filled her shoes well, this movie would have been a total fail.
